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B3
SUNDAY,
JANUARY 24,
2016
For richer
(poetry)
---Page B38
BC thinks today is a
good day for Westerns
---Page B38
Story & photos by
PAULA LINDO
"I hope they come away from the
show having experienced some-
thing visceral." Wendell Manwarren
of 3Canal expressed this following
the Backyard Jam where the group s
new music for 2016 was launched,
along with this year s J Ouvert con-
cept, Black Jab Nation. This year
the show will be held at the Big
Black Box on Murray Street, Wood-
brook, from January 29--February
6. Manwarren said the theme of the
show, Outta de Box, describes the
crew and its attitude. He said having
the space has helped them to build
a company where they can work con-
sistently and take the work to another
level.
"We are still the engine but there
are so many people who help fuel
what we do and we want to recognise
that this time around in 2016. We've
invested in human development,
working with young fledgling pro-
ducers for the first time and with
dancers to turn them into singers,
just creating a show that feels like
everyone is a part of making and
contributing to it."
The group---Manwarren, Roger
Roberts and Stanton Kewley---had
the audience screaming and singing
along from early in their set at the
January 15 launch at the Big Black
Box. During the show the group wel-
comed three new acts to the stage,
Mogabe, duo Cyn-X and the dancers
of the Black Box Crew, who sang
They Not Ready for This on the Black
Box Rhythm. 3Canal then performed
four of their new songs for 2016:
Spirits on the Rise (again on the Black
Box Rhythm), J'Ouvert Morning
Come, Pressure (which used a
SuperBlue sample), and Try Your
Best.
Manwarren said the decision to
focus on the black jab for J'Ouvert
was made because "it's the first his-
torically recorded mas, that character
that was nearly naked, covered from
head to foot in soot or molasses.
Legend has it that the more difficult
slaves were thrown into the vats of
boiling molasses while still alive and
they returned as jab molassie on
J'Ouvert morning for retribution and
to claim their space."
He said the theme plays on the
idea that they are coming out of the
box to claim the Carnival space.
"One of the things we want to
deal with in the Carnival is what we
call Spirit.' Growing up in Belmont
I used to hear about the spirit of
Carnival' and I don't really hear that
too much now. A lot of the official
elements of Carnival are very badly
organised and I question what we're
spending those hundreds of millions
of dollars on.
"We're evolving in terms of con-
sumption but we're devolving in
terms of our thinking and what's
important and valuable to us. Within
a generation or so, if we don't pay
attention to certain things we'll lose
them. I want to get back to the sense
that there's a Carnival imagination
that we have to employ to make Car-
nival what it should be. So if we find
something is missing, we have to fill
it up and we've been exploring that.
"We're not averse to the commer-
cial aspect because people have a
right to earn income but it is impor-
tant to build a base of love and sol-
idarity and believe in something and
that's what we're trying to do here
at the Black Box."
Manwarren said having the show
at Big Black Box will make it more
real for the audience "as opposed to
in Queen's Hall where you have to
create more of a sense of spectacle.
Here it's real, the audience gets wet,
we feel the heat from the audience
and people are standing as opposed
to sitting."
Manwarren, an actor, director and
mas man as well as rapso artist, said,
"We come from the street experience
of J'Ouvert as well as mas camp and
theatre, and the vibration from the
street and the yard is really so crucial
and the backyard affords that kind
of energy exchange. People could
participate, shout, wine and dance
and that feeds back into us too.
"I think painting up in a perform-
ance is going to make it something
different and we don't have to worry
about dirtying up someone else's
space."
Manwarren said instead of having
the customary pre-show, this year's
3Canal Show will have music playing
after the show and at some point
there will be a post-show with new
artists singing their songs. "It's a big
show, we have a big cast: 26 dancers,
a full band, a few guest artistes as
well. It's rough and real and it's
immediate."
Tickets cost $300 and showtime
is 8.30 pm nightly.
Rapso group and J'Ouvert bandleaders 3Canal on stage at the launch of
their band Black Jab Nation and preview of the 2016 3Canal Show, at Big
Black Box, Murray Street, Woodbrook, January 15. From left, Roger
Roberts, Wendell Manwarren, Stanton Kewley.
The dancers of the 3Canal show, Black Box Crew, sing They Not Ready for
This, on the Black Box Rhythm, at Big Black Box, on January 15.
bigblackbox@gmail.com
MORE INFO